Grape Update 5th October

Added Tartaric Acid to Montepulciano;

Acid measured at 5ppt, to raise Total acid levels to 6.5ppt

Calculation;  1.5 * 18 grams * 47 litres/19 litres

Racked the Pecorino and the Sangiovese, no sulphite added as still fermenting slowly.

Hopefully we now have 3 very nice wines on the go !

Update 4th October

Sangiovese...primary fermentation has finished
Pecorino...primary fermentation still going but slowing

Montepulciano....brix was measured at around 24.5, and we picked with Jon and Jayne Hughes at 4pm, Thursday 3rd October.  We wanted to wait for Pippa & Paul but weather was dry, and we were staring at a forecast saying we were in for 4 days of torrential rain starting on Friday morning so we went ahead.

We picked total of 105 Kgs, then Sulfited 2 grams per 23  Kgs and crushed.  Destemmed about 50% and left in the cold room on the skins overnight.

Next day, Friday 4th October, Paul and Pippa arrived.

At around 3pm, we pressed to make 57 litres of juice;  Lovely dark red colour, big extract for Rose.

Checked readings as follows

Refractomer; 23 Brix
hydrometer reading 1.096
Acid tested at 5 parts per thousand

Plan next day to to uplift the TAcid to 6.5 ppt

Montepulciano

Tested the Montepulciano again.  Brix 20.5, TA = 6.5.  Hopefully should be perfect in 2 weeks time.

Acid Levels

Acid Testing

Take 5mls of wine (before yeast is added) and add to test tube. Add a small amount of water, then add 4 drops of Indicator solution.  Gradually add Sodium Hydroxide, the amount of mls added = the parts per thousand of TA...no need for any multiplication adjustment.

Sangiovese measured TA = 5 ppt

Pecorino 7.5 ppt

We added Tartaric Acid to the Sangiovese to try and raise acid levels to 6.5 pt.

Raising 40 litres of must from 0.5 to 0.65, = 1.5 * 18 grams * 40 litres / 19

See page 127 "From Vines to Wines"

Grape Harvest Update

Pressed Sangiovese at 8.30am Sunday 22nd September, yield 40 litres, Brix 22.5, Hydrometer reading at 1.092

Pressed Pecorino at 10am, Sunday 22nd September, yield approx 60 litres, Brix 24, Hydrometer reading 1.10.

Grape Harvest

Grapes look good.

Tested Brix Friday 20th September 5pm;

Pecorino 24.5
Montepulciano 21
Sangiovese 23

Grapes look good.  Pecorini small, some browning, some wasp damage, but on the whole looks in reasonable condition.

Red Grapes both look very good, big bunches, very little wasp damage. On the Sangiovese a few bunches were rasiny, but overall big black beautiful bunches.

Picked 121.6 Kgs Pecorino 3pm Saturday 21st.
Picked 76 Kgs Sangiovese 5pm Saturday 21st

Destemmed for 15 minutes then left in cold room overnight.

BRIX UPDATE

Weather not too good, quite a bit of rain, mid 20 degrees.  I hope the grapes will ripen.

The fruit looks good, Brix levels measured today at;

Montepulciano;  13
Sangiovese;        16
Pecorino Row 1;   12
Pecorino Row 2;   13

Vineyard Update

We have had quite a lot of rain recently.  Heavy rain again today.  Grapes are very vigorous, and loaded with fruit, it looks like it will be a big crop this year. I am planning to do some pretty severe summer pruning to cut back a lot of the growth over the next few days.

Bottling

All 3 wines bottled over the past few days.  1 gram of Sulphite added per 20 Litres.  All wines are looking very clear and tasting excellent.  These are definitely the best wines we have made yet.

Update 1st April

All 3 wines racked on Monday 1st April after lunch.  White and Rose looking much clearer, Montepulciano very clear.  All wines showing good clean flavours.

Wine Update

Took a look at our 3 wines today, 30th March am.

Montepulciano Rose looking very clear, sparkling bright.  Good flavour, very dry, slightly acidic.  We sulphited at 1.5 grams per 20 litres and then added 4 grams of Sugar per litre.

Sangiovese Rose, looking slightly hazy.  We sulphited at 1.5 grams per 20 litres and added Bentonite to fine.

Pecorino White, looking slightly hazy. We sulphited at 1.5 grams per 20 litres and added Bentonite to fine.

We also tasted and sampled the white Pecorino from 2011.  Really pleasant so bottled most of it into 2 Litre bottles for summer quaffing.

Pruning Spring 2013

Vines pruned again end of March.  Same as last year, so 4 buds on montepulciano, 6 buds on  Sangiovese, and 8-10 buds on the Pecorino.  Helped by Duncan, Judith and Robert, pruning took us about a day and a half.

Sulphiting

All wines sulphited at end of January at 1.5 grams per 20 Litres.